Bouncy Fire Fighters
You've probably never heard of the obscure Famicom title "Flying Hero". It's a 1989 release that never went outside of Japan, and in it the player fights fires by bouncing one fire fighter up into the air on a blanket, where he grabs people out of windows and tries to put the fire out at the same time. It borrows the basic mechanic of Breakout and mixes it up just a little bit. Bouncy Fire Fighters is a cute little remake of Flying Hero, and it's a lot of fun. Of course, the original featured tiny 8-bit pixel art, whereas in this one the female fire victims put the bouncy in the title, if you know what I mean. Time marches on.
Use either the mouse or the [arrow] keys to move your blanket-carrying firefighters back and forth, and launch the brave hero into the air with [space] or a mouse click. As he flies by windows, he'll rescue any victims screaming for help inside, or make progress at putting the fire out. But what goes up must come down, and you'd better have the blanket ready to catch him when he does, or else you'll lose a life. Twelve helpful and harmful bonus tokens can float down, from blanket-igniting fire to a victim-rescuing Superman summoning token. If you're too slow and the fire gets too hot, some of the victims may start leaping from windows. You can catch them with the blanket, but if you fail to catch three of them, it's game over as well. You win each of the twenty levels by either rescuing all the victims or putting out the fire completely.
Some of the tokens are a little cheap in both directions: the rare totem is basically an instant win, and the not quite so rare gas tank, which while not an instant game over, puts the player in an extremely difficult position. However the game's quarter-eating arcade-style addictiveness and awesomely ridiculous softest of soft cheesecake art make this a title that's hard to put down. Try muting the game and playing while listening to a modern cover of an 80s song to get the full retro remade effect.
Bouncy Fire Fighters Tips and Tricks
List of Bonuses:
fire - lights blanket on fire; if you don't put the blanket out (or win the game) in time, then game over; falls from fire being put out
money bag - extra money (score)
totem - puts out building fire
bottle marked A - alcohol (makes firefighters go opposite direction)
gas tank - sets entire structure on highest level of fire
Superman S - superman (rescues everyone currently on screen)
fire extinguisher - puts out blanket fire (only shows up when blanket is on fire)
scissors- shrinks blanket
spring - makes blanket bouncier (it appears--doesn't seem to have a strong or long lasting effect)
arrows pointing away from each other - makes blanket longer
1up - extra life
double fireman - doubles number of firemen bouncing (when extra firemen die, they don't count against your lives)
Tips:
If your blanket catches on fire and burns completely, it's game over, no matter how many lives you have. Therefore, avoiding lighting your blanket on fire, and putting it out if it catches fire, is extremely important. Unless you're on your last life, it's probably better to avoid catching on fire and miss a fireman.
Also, unless you're on your last life, or you've almost rescued everyone, miss a fireman rather than catch a gas tank.
If you're not on your last life, miss a fireman if necessary to catch a totem, because it will win the level for you in a matter of seconds.
Never go out of your way to get a money bag. Score is pretty meaningless and it resets if you hit a game over.
If using mouse control, be careful about mousing outside the game window. It pauses the game, which can break your concentration.
Thanks to Parmeisan for additional info!
Good but
there is no ending after finishing the 20 levels (all stars).
i think you missed
The item that makes you stronger
Could you be more specific xxerox? I beat all 20 levels and I can't recall ever coming across a power-up like you describe. Could you describe what the icon looks like?
The last item,
double fireman - it isn't an extra fireman, it's double the number of firemen you have. I know this because I had two and got another one of these, and then I had four and they were EVERYWHERE. That didn't last long!
I wish I could tell my firefighters,
"I don't care how pretty she is. If the screaming woman is in a room that is not on fire directly below a room filled with fire, she is just being whiny and you are to first save the man who is clearly about to die."
I had a theory re: the spring. When you get it, it says "jumper". So maybe it has something to do with the people who are about to jump? I thought maybe it used a spring on the next jumper, giving you two chances to catch them, but the only time I managed to get a spring and then have people jump on purpose, I ended up with a bunch jumping at once and I'm not sure whether or not anything interesting happened because I lost the level.
PS. Loving the left-handed checkmarks.
@Parmeisan:
Interesting! I never had that happen to me... but usually one of my firemen dies pretty quickly when I get two, haha. I will edit the walkthrough to reflect that!
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